Small print,
big issues
Pierre Valentin and Azmina Jasani explore the
ramifications of recent consumer protection laws
for the sale of fine art, antiques and collectibles

F

ine art, antiques
and collectibles can
be sold in various
ways: by public
auction, private sale
through dealers and
galleries, art fairs
and online. Relatively new developments
in the area of consumer protection,
namely the enactment of the Consumer
Contracts (Information, Cancellation and
Additional Charges) Regulations 2013
(the regulations) and the Consumer
Rights Act 2015 (the act), have significant
implications for the art trade, depending
on how and where the sale is concluded.
Reasonable minds would agree
that these laws are meant to protect
consumers of goods sold on the
high street, but it is more difficult to
understand why consumers of fine
art, antiques and collectibles – often
sophisticated buyers guided by expert
advisors – should be afforded the same
protection. Unfortunately, consumer
protection laws apply equally to washing
machines and Old Masters, and as a
result, art dealers and auctioneers must
reconsider how they do business, in
order to minimise the risk of financial loss
and penalties. Compliance has forced
art dealers and auctioneers to adopt
new, inconvenient business models.
This article describes these laws, and
examines the ways in which they affect
art businesses.

Statutory framework
The regulations and the act collectively
govern contracts relating to the sale of
goods, the provision of services and the
provision of digital content by a trader
to a consumer (see box, right). They do
not apply to contracts between traders
or between consumers; neither do
they apply to contracts under which a
consumer sells to a trader. In this article,
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we will only focus on the impact of
consumer protection laws on contracts
for trader-to-consumer sales.
Before we describe the effects of the
regulations and the act, we make four
preliminary remarks.
bb If you, as the trader, sell stock to a
consumer, you must comply with the
consumer protection rules because you
are engaged in a trader-to-consumer
sale. If you sell to a consumer as an
agent for the owner, the consumer
protection rules also apply, provided the
owner – your principal – is also a trader.
But they do not apply if the owner is a
consumer, because both the buyer and
the seller are consumers and the laws
do not apply to a consumer-to-consumer
sales contract; the fact that you invoice
the buyer in your name does not change
the analysis. If you as the trader sell to
another trader on behalf of the owner,
the consumer protection rules do not

Definitions
bb A “trader” is defined as “a person
acting for purposes relating to that
person’s trade, business, craft or
profession, whether acting personally
or through another person acting in
the trader’s name or on the trader’s
behalf”; see section 2(2) of the
Consumer Rights Act 2015.
bb “A trader claiming that an
individual was not acting for
purposes wholly or mainly outside
the individual’s trade, business, craft
or profession must prove it”; again,
see the act at section 2(4).
bb A “consumer” is “an individual
acting for purposes that are wholly or
mainly outside that individual’s trade,
business, craft or profession” under
section 2(3) of the act.

apply either, irrespective of whether the
owner is a consumer or a trader, because
neither a consumer-to-trader sale nor a
trader-to-trader sale is covered by the
consumer protection rules. It is therefore
essential to consider in what capacity you
are selling – as principal or agent – and
whether the owner and buyer qualify as
a “trader” or as a “consumer”. There is an
exception that applies to live auctions, as
described below.
bb While this article concentrates on
sales, it is important to note that the
regulations and the act apply equally
to the provision of services. If you sell
as agent for the owner, you provide
a service to them, and you typically
charge them a commission. If the owner
is a consumer, then you are providing a
service to a consumer and the consumer
protection rules apply to the provision
of that service, as a trader-to-consumer
contract. If your principal is another
trader, the rules do not apply, as this
constitutes a trader-to-trader contract.
You may also provide other services such